


The Last Night

by Fabrisse



Category: Kings (TV 2009)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 06:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2841011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an AU from the episode Javelin.  </p><p>Both sentenced to death by Silas, Jack and David find solace, and love, with each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lizzen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizzen/gifts).



> As this is an AU, some earlier events happened differently, too, which means there's no infidelity in this story.

David found himself being dragged from the court by four fellow soldiers, the depth of Silas betrayal making him heavy. Innocence lost is lightness lost. His last view of the courtroom was Jack putting on his most regal bearing and walking out with his captors. The door shut, and David pulled himself together. He was an officer, and he would face his execution as one.

They put a bag over his head as soon as he'd been made fast in the prison transport. Another prisoner was added, and he caught a whiff of Jack's aftershave. The door shut, and Jack's groping hands found his. They clasped together throughout their ride.

***  
The cell was huge. Cold stone, two bare metal bunks, a necessary convenience were all that adorned it. Jack had been left in the van, but a few minutes later, he saw him pass to the cell on his left. Maybe that cell was more royal.

When the guards left, he went to the barred opening on his door and said, "Jack?"

"David."

"Is your bunk gilded? Are there curlicues on your toilet? Curtains? I want to know what makes a prison cell fit for a prince."

Jack choked out a laugh. "No, I assume our cells are much the same. Though I believe my thin sheets maybe silk."

David said, "You got sheets?"

There was another chuckle from Jack, then silence. "I did you a grave wrong."

"You did me a favor, Jack. Those in the courtroom know of my innocence. My family believed it, but it's better to know. The ministry of information could not have cut the feed before at least some people outside the court saw and knew of Silas' tyranny. It may not help me. It certainly didn't help you, but ultimately, it may have helped Gilboa."

Jack said, "Right now, that's not enough."

***  
They exchanged words over the next hour or so. It was amazingly difficult to keep track of time, before Michelle came to their prison.

She stopped first at David's cell, and he walked away from her to sit on his bunk. "I am sorry. I thought if my father knew you were no threat to him through me, he would forgive you or exile you at worst."

"I counted on you as my friend. I counted on you for your love of truth. I bet my life on your goodness, and I lost."

"David. I… Perhaps, I would have had more strength against my father's anger and my mother's blandishments had we, we consummated our relationship that night."

David looked at her for the first time. "You never knew who you were nor what you wanted, Michelle. I understand your father's betrayal. He believes my existence diminishes his ability to be king. Yours I cannot comprehend."

She took a step back, as if slapped. "I… Bless you, David Shepherd. May God keep you."

At the door to Jack's cell, she found him waiting. "I heard you tell our father that you loved David, that you believed being with him could be a higher calling than a vow made at ten. You had a chance to prove it, and instead, I end up being his reputation's savior. Did you fear the people would see you as less pure? I would have thought those pictures you took had killed that possibility."

Michelle shook her head. "You heard Father. 'If any is for Shepherd, he is against me.' Mother thought it better to keep my head down and find another way later."

Jack was able to slide a hand through the bars to cup her chin. "You are my sister, my twin. I've loved you since before our birth. But I say now, you have betrayed a good man for a bad king."

"Jack."

"I forgive you your part in my death," Jack said.

From his right came David's voice, "As do I."

She bent her head and kissed Jack's hand before turning on her heel to leave. "My blessing on you both, whatever it's worth."

***  
Some time passed. Each man paced the dimensions of his cell. Each occasionally began a conversation, and sometimes it lasted for more than a minute. But in these hours, the loneliness of their position separated them as firmly as the wall between them.

Silas came. 

"The peace with Gath, which you brokered, Captain Shepherd, will come to pass tomorrow and redound to my name. Know this when you breathe your last."

"My deeds would always have glorified my king. It is the king who bears the responsibility. None would have remembered my part had you not tried me."

"Is it so? Your name will be obliterated, never to be spoken. It is well." He turned. "And you, Jack, your mother has begged for your life. It almost pained me to refuse."

"I'm sure you'll find another way to extend your legacy."

Silas spoke to the guards. "A good meal for these two, it shall be their last. Any requests, Jack?"

"We could use some warmer blankets."

"It shall be done. And you Captain Shepherd?"

"Let us share a cell for our final hours."

Silas raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you one of his boy whores?"

David shook his head and said, "Jack has never done more than take my hand in friendship. I just hate to eat alone."

"Granted."

***  
Once he had departed, David's door opened. Jack was pushed through and a guard came in with extra blankets.

Jack stared at him. "Why?"

"You could have refused my company."

"No. I want companionship tonight, too."

David said, "Was it true? The name your father called you?"

"Reconsidering sharing a cell?"

"No. Just… Never mind."

There was a long pause before Jack finally chose to sit beside him. "My father wanted a perfect prince, and one who preferred the company of men, in all things, was insufficient for him."

"Was there anyone you loved?"

Jack smiled. "I'll answer that, if you tell me, what did my sister mean by 'if we'd consummated'?"

David rested his head against the stone. "The night of the blackout, we walked around the city talking. She finally asked me out to the parkland estate and made a pass at me. When I acquiesced she pulled away, mumbling about an oath to God. We kissed, that's all, though she briefly offered more. And a week later, she sent me some photographs of herself unclothed."

"You weren't the one who sent them to the paper?"

"No. I gave them back to her. Told her to give them to me again when she'd grown up enough to make up her mind. The next I saw, they were published across Gilboa."

Jack nodded. "I had a friend, one whom I loved. I went to him the night of the blackout, but he wasn't home. He'd left for Austeria, I found later, and had sent documents -- letters in my own hand, photographs, more -- to several of Shiloh's yellowest journalists. I found out later our Mother had made the decision. Michelle seen as a woman did less harm than my being seen as a lover of men."

"I'm sorry you have been so betrayed."

"Says the man whom I betrayed by agreeing to prosecute him."

David took his hand. "You found your conscience and listened to its voice at the end. This cell was a foregone conclusion. You beside me was not."

Jack looked at their joined hands in wonder. "Do you not fear for your virtue with me?"

"No, Jack." He kissed the hand he held. "I cannot believe a just God would condemn love, however or wherever it's found."

"And tonight, would you be willing to find it with me?"

David smiled. "We'll have the rest of our lives together, Jack. How many can truly say that?"

Their lips met in a nearly chaste kiss. They breathed each others' air and then claimed further kisses, hotter, wetter, filled with all the passion of a last night on earth.

A clatter at the door separated them as a small table was brought in and laid. Steaks, vegetables, even a glass of wine apiece -- though served in plastic glasses -- was granted them.

The guards departed, and Jack said, "I'm less hungry than I thought."

David smiled. "I'm starving, but not for food." He kissed a tender spot on Jack's neck.

"Well, I'm famished. The meat smells wonderful from here."

They glanced around to find a grate. "Who are you?" Jack asked.

"Have you heard tales of Vesper Abbadon?"

David said, "Only of his atrocities."

"Yes, well, I was honest in them. And now, I'm Silas' greatest friend who was once his worst enemy. Would you take advice from me? Of course not. You know my past, though you're too young to remember it. But Silas saw it all, first hand, and now asks me how to proceed. I'm sorry it caught you two, but not sorry that it will destroy Silas."

Jack whispered, "It would explain much."

"If those steaks will go to waste…" A thick, weighted string came down through the grate; they attached a steak to it. "Don't worry, gentlemen. It is far better to die loved than feared, something Silas will discover."

"On balance," David said, "I'd rather live miserable."

Jack was caught surprised by his own laugh. "Can we not love tonight?"

Abbadon's voice came back through the grate. "I have earplugs. I can grant you privacy for your last nights."

Jack spoke upward toward the grate, "Then put them in, old man, and spare your blushes." He reached his hand behind David's neck, and they met in a fierce kiss. Jack backed him to one of the bunks and said, "May I?" as he cupped David's groin.

"Anything, Jack."

He knelt and rested his head against David's thigh. "My heart loved you from the first, but my parents convinced me your worth stole from ours. Then your eye lit on my sister…"

"I'm sorry if that hurt you, my prince, my friend. My love, if you'll let me."

"Tonight, we shall have all between us."

***  
They woke the next morning wrapped closed under warm blankets. Bare skin rubbed bare skin, and the air between them smelled of satiation and new arousal. They found each other's pleasure again before the guards came and bade them dress.

"Captain Shepherd." The captain of the guard stood at the door.

Jack said, "Am I to die, too, this day?"

"Yes, sir, in ten minutes, once we have executed Shepherd."

"Then, as your Prince, I ask you to take those ten minutes to put in a second post. We die together." His eyes looked pleadingly at David, who nodded.

David said, "If this request can be granted, it is my wish, too."

The captain said, "It will be done."

They sat together, hands clasped close, David prayed, "I trust in thee, O Lord, to preserve our souls together."

Jack kissed his lips softly. "Amen."

They straightened into military bearing, though still close enough for their knuckles to brush, when they heard the captain return. The man looked pale. "The king has been shot at the transfer ceremony. Silas is feared dead." He turned to Jack. "You are, I believe, the King, sir, and I await your orders."

"Take us to the palace, then. Wait. First bring us somewhere we may shower and shave. My father taught me that appearances matter in a king."

"Yes, your majesty."

"Jack, I…"

"God seems to have spoken. And I intend you keep your promise to stay beside me until death. When we leave here, once we have been seen together, go to Reverend Samuels' sanctuary. I will join you as quickly as I can, and we may ask him, and God, where we go next."

David whispered back, "Amen."


End file.
